Bird watching at Abra Malaga while you get accustomed to altitude before hiking the Inca Trail. Don't stay in Cusco feeling miserable at 3450m before Inca Trail. Better to work high and sleep low as the pro mountain climbers. Birding at Abra Malaga

A lot of birders are runners. Here is a trip that will combine our passions. Inca Trail, Rain Forest and Lima Marathon and plenty of birding. The tour is also open for non runners who want to bird the inca trail and bird seldom visited areas such as Pampas del Heath in South East Peru.

The best full day birding tour one can make in Arequipa is to Laguna Salinas and Chiguata to see all three species of flamingos and birds of the Polylepis scrub, as well as Tamarugo Conebill and White-throated Earthcreeper. .

Two new areas visited during a LONG day trip from Cusco, with best place to watch Vilcabamba Tapaculo, Apurimac Spinetail and Apurimac Brush-Finch, as well as a fairly strenuous 3.5km hike (and 3.5 km back of course) at 3400m for spectacular views of Andean Condor over the breath-taking Apurimac river.

Arriving at 3400 meters from sea level, and stay there, is a bit too much for many people. Therefore, to fight altitude sickness it is a good idea not stay in Cuzco the first night, but rather bird and sightseeing your way down to Ollantaytambo.

Best trip for the person who wants to see as many of SE Peru's Hummingbirds as possible and inlcude a visit to Machu Picchu. We have chosen basic but adequate lodging. At Cock-of-the Rock Lodge we sleep in rooms wall to wall next to the diningroom. It is possible to upgrade to private cabins. 30US per person. Also possible to upgrade the hotel in Aguas Calientes.

This is a birdier and slightly less expensive version of Machu Picchu and Abra Malaga that does not use the (expensive) train service to Machu Picchu, which gives a better list of species. Limited hiking.

We recommend to do SE Peru in 22 days for Manu and 4 days for Abra Malaga and Machu Picchu if SE Peru is to be done properly. However, if you want to concentrate on the species you cannot see elsewhere you may strip down the trip to only 12 days, and keep a very high pace. The reason why this is possible is that there are relatively few endemics and specialities in the lowlands apart from the bamboo birds. Since many of the bamboo birds can be gotten near Pilcopata relatively close to the road, it is possible to skip lowland Manu completely and still get most of the special birds.
The other SE Peru species are found in high Andean forests (Abra Malaga), in the cloud forest (Machu Picchu) and in the foothills (on Manu road).

A 5 day tour to Puerto Maldonado to prepare oneself for the Biggest day birds to learn Amazonian birdcalls, a lot of time birding with world experts in Amazonian birding, on day 10 you'd aim for personal Big Day record as you will be paired up with an expert leader. There will be max 3 people per leader.

Incredible and breathtaking scenery when trekking through some of the most remarkable mountain scenery in South America. Two of the most spectacular Inca sites are visited: Choquequirao and Machu Picchu. Birding and wildflower watching as we trek.